bookcurios Chapter 38: Breaking off the engagement? Where can I put my face?
Chapter 38: Breaking off the engagement? Where can I put my face?
Wei Mingcheng waited in the imperial study for a long time before the emperor arrived accompanied by Eunuch Liu.
"My dear minister, why are you looking for me so urgently?" Emperor Ying said with a smile.
Wei Mingcheng quickly replied, "Your Majesty, I am here for the marriage of my daughter and Prince Jing."
"Well, I was just about to tell you that the palace will pay a portion of the betrothal gift, and the rest will be paid by the third brother himself." Emperor Ying stroked a few strands of his black beard.
"Your Majesty, this is not what I am doing this time," Wei Mingcheng said.
Emperor Ying glanced at him and said, "Oh, then what are you doing this for?"
"I would like to ask the Emperor to cancel the engagement..."
"Are you confused, my dear? My dear, I'm afraid you are confused. The marriage I arranged has never been withdrawn." Before Prime Minister Wei could finish his words, Emperor Ying interrupted him.
Seeing that Emperor Ying was somewhat displeased, Wei Mingcheng made up his mind and said, "Your Majesty, my daughter was almost killed yesterday, and Prince Jing had something to do with it."
Emperor Ying frowned and asked three questions in a row, "How is Miss Wei now? What happened? Are you sure it's related to Prince Jing?"
"Luckily my daughter is lucky. She was just frightened and is fine for now." Wei Mingcheng paused and said in a painful voice, "It was the concubine that Prince Jing kept outside. She hired two assassins to kidnap my daughter to the suburbs and wanted to kill her. Fortunately, God has eyes and my daughter is alert, so she was saved."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Ying flew into a rage: "How can this be! How could he cause such trouble, Eunuch Liu!"
Eunuch Liu quickly responded, "I'm here."
Emperor Ying said sternly: "Send someone to get rid of that concubine to relieve Miss Wei's anger!"
As soon as Eunuch Liu stepped out of the imperial study, Emperor Ying said again: "By the way, send someone to summon Prince Jing to the palace."
Eunuch Liu took the order and left. Emperor Ying walked to Wei Mingcheng, patted him on the shoulder, and said in a softer tone, "My dear, don't worry. If it has anything to do with Prince Jing, I will not let him off easily!"
"Your Majesty, I am extremely shocked by this incident. My daughter has not even gotten married yet, but she has already suffered such a misfortune. I dare not speak ill of Prince Jing. I just hope that my daughter is safe. I dare to ask Your Majesty to cancel the engagement. This is also what my daughter wants." Wei Mingcheng's tone was somewhat sad and angry.
Emperor Ying also heard the displeasure of Prime Minister Wei and consoled him, "My dear, Prince Jing is naturally cold and aloof. How could he fall in love with the frivolous women in the brothels? And how could he do something like harming Miss Wei? I think there must be something fishy about this matter."
Wei Mingcheng also heard that the emperor was trying to make amends for Prince Jing. In fact, both the emperor and his subjects understood that no matter whether Prince Jing was involved in this matter or not, if it were to be spread out, it would certainly damage the reputation of the royal family. If the engagement was really cancelled, it would not be so easy for Prince Jing to find a daughter of a prince or general.
Wei Mingcheng said firmly: "Prince Jing is right, but I have no choice. My daughter has been greatly traumatized. She must cancel the engagement!"
Emperor Ying was somewhat helpless. Prince Jing was already nineteen years old. There had been court officials proposing marriage to him, but Prince Jing was aloof and used to being alone, so he had never agreed. At that time, Prince Jing was still young, and Emperor Ying was not in a hurry. But in the past two years, he saw that the eldest sons, Prince Huai and the second son, Prince Xiang, had already married, and the fourth son, Prince Xuan, had also fallen in love with the daughter of the right prime minister, Mu Yanran, and all that was left was to propose marriage. The other sons were still young and there was no hurry, but Prince Jing was one year older than Prince Xuan, and it was impossible for a younger brother to marry before his older brother. He could not accept this. Although he was the emperor, he was also a father. How could he not be anxious? Moreover, Prince Jing was born to his most beloved Concubine Rong. Now that Concubine Rong was gone, Prince Jing's marriage naturally fell on the shoulders of this old father.
In fact, he had already compared several important officials with daughters in his mind, and only the left prime minister Wei Mingcheng was the easiest to talk to and would give him face. So he arranged a marriage between Prince Jing and the daughter of the Wei family. It was more like an order to Prime Minister Wei to agree than an arranged marriage.
Emperor Ying smiled sincerely, "My dear, how can I save face if you cancel the engagement now? Do you want the ministers and the people to laugh at me?"
Before Wei Mingcheng came, he had thought that if something like this happened, the emperor would definitely not agree to cancel the engagement. If it was canceled, wouldn't that prove that Prince Jing's character was problematic? Not canceling the engagement could save some face. If the daughter of the prime minister wanted to marry Prince Jing after something like this, it meant that Prince Jing was still a good person.
So he could only use the excuse that it was his daughter who wanted to cancel the engagement, and he could not refuse the emperor.
"My dear minister, there is absolutely no reason to cancel the marriage I arranged. Let's just leave it at that and don't mention it again. I will summon Miss Wei to the palace in a few days." Emperor Ying sat down and pinched his brows.
Wei Mingcheng felt a little depressed. He knew that he could not cancel the marriage, so he had no choice but to back out.
After Wei Mingcheng left for a while, Prince Jing entered the palace.
"What good things have you done? Why did Miss Wei suffer so much injustice?" Emperor Ying was furious. He was so worried.
"Father, I didn't know anything about this beforehand. It was Qingyun Longyan who saw Miss Wei being kidnapped. Qingyun came to inform me. I only found out the whole story after I went to the suburbs." In front of Emperor Ying, Chu Xingluo's voice was still cold and indifferent. He recounted the whole story and how he met Gu Xixi.
After hearing this, Emperor Ying felt relieved. How could his son have an affair with a prostitute? However, he still gave Chu Xingluo a severe lesson. After the lesson, he asked him to talk about the engagement and betrothal gifts.